Isilon Node Protocols Test

The EMC Isilon storage system supports standard network communication protocols that enable users to access the storage system via the file system. The users with adequate credentials and privileges can create, modify, and read data from the cluster using one of the communication protocols. The communication protocols supported by the storage system are:

  • NFS (Network File System)
  • SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block/Common Internet File System)
  • FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
  • HTTP/HTTPs (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
  • HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System)
  • REST API (Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface)
  • OpenStack Swift (Object Storage API)

By periodically checking the data transferred via the protocols that connect the users to the storage system, administrators can identify the protocol through which the storage system receives high-level of traffic. Using the Node Protocol Statistics test, administrators can easily monitor the data traffic received through the protocols.

This test auto-discovers the protocols that connect the users with the target storage system, and for each protocol, reports the amount data transferred per second. This revelation helps administrators to figure out the throughput of each protocol and proactively detect potential abnormalities and/or processing bottlenecks (if the connection is not legitimate).

Target of the test : An EMC Isilon Storage System

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each protocol used to access the target storage system being monitored.

This test also reports measures for Total descriptor.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the host listens. By default, this will be NULL.

Timeout

Specify the time duration (in seconds) beyond which this test should time out in the Timeout text box. The default is 10 seconds.

Use SUDO

By default, this parameter is set to No. This indicates that, by default, the eG agent will not require any special permissions to execute the commands. However, in some highly secure environments, this command cannot be executed directly as the eG agent install user is different from the root user who has the privileges to run all commands on the target storage system. In such cases, create a sudo user using the steps discussed in the Pre-requisites for Monitoring the EMC Isilon Storage System. Credentials of such a user should be specified in the Username and Password text boxes in the COMPONENTS page.

Set the Use Sudo parameter to Yes. This will enable the eG agent install user to execute the commands.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Data transfer

Indicates the rate at which the data is transferred via this protocol.

MB/sec

For the Total descriptor, this measure will report the rate at which the data is transferred across the protocols.

Compare the value of this measure across the protocols to identify the protocol that is transferring maximum amount of data to the storage system.